How to get your dream patio for cheap

Everyone loves the sunny weather. Even if a warm breeze is present, spirits are lifted when the sun rises and remains in a clear blue sky. We are naturally drawn to be outside and enjoy those days of warmth, but when you have nowhere to sit or hang out, enjoying these moments becomes difficult. While having a patio isn’t the most necessary feature of a home, it is definitely a bonus. And it doesn’t have to be expensive. People tend to avoid enhancing their patio because there is a misconception that it would break the bank. A little Pinterest and Houzz browsing showed me otherwise. Patio life is possible!

Pallets with potential

Pallets are typically easy to come by. Go to department stores or on Kijiji and it is easy to find one. These wooden frames give you so much potential to create something unique out of your yard. Whether it be a deck or creating a lounging area with outdoor pillows. Find more ideas on Pinterest and you’ll be surprised with what you can do.

Have a deck? Refurbish it!

If you already have a deck but you feel it’s a bit drab, think of ways you can enhance it. Maybe it’s as simple as staining it or you can paint a checkered pattern on it. Either way, you’ll land up with a new deck and great outdoor space.

Add some colour and greenery

Sometimes all your patio needs is a little life. Go to your local grocery store and buy some potted flowers and strategically place them around your patio. It is such an easy fix that adds so much to the vibes of your outdoor area.

Inspire yourself

Do you even know how often people are trying to clear up storage space by giving away bricks and sand for free on Kijiji? There is so much you can do with those materials, so find out what is out there and throw that in your Pinterest search bar. If you see red bricks for free on Kijiji, go to Pinterest and search “red brick patio furniture”. Oh look, you can make a firepit.

Make your own hammock

You don’t have to go buy those expensive hammocks just so you can swing in your backyard. If you’re anything like me, I love crafting, especially when I know it’s going to become something I use! There are many ways to create your own, some more intricate and difficult than others, but all doable.

When you get your hands on a new project, it can be hard to hold yourself back from knocking cupboards down and ripping out baseboards. That’s how we felt with the McKenzie Lake home. It’s our first project of the year and we wanted to get started! Instead, we had to make sure we went through the 10 stages of pre-renovation. To show the importance of going through these steps, we will show you what we did with the McKenzie Lake home.

Get to know the house

For those who followed us through our blogs about pre-renovation, we stressed the point of getting to know your home and what needed to be done. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that we did the same. To know how much it would cost and how long it would take, we walked through the house to determine what needed to be done. Through this process, we created a budget for ourselves. We saw jobs which we knew how to do ourselves, and we saw where we needed to bring professionals in. In addition, we determined what areas we would be willing to give up working on if things got too expensive.

Take pictures!

This is not necessarily a step that is a must, but it’s one that will be satisfying in the long run. Take pictures of the before, the during and the after. You could even do a panorama of the room. Being able to see the change all your hard work accomplished will be incredibly satisfying. A tip to keep in mind though: make sure you remember the position and angle you took the original photo. By doing this, you’ll truly see the difference your efforts made.

Get estimates

At this stage, we needed to get contractors in. We knew what needed to be done and it was time to find out how much it cost. It’s very important to stay within our financial plan. To do so, we told the contractors what our rough budget was before they walked through the house. As our Transformation Director, Karen Ingram-Johnson, said, “You get a different result if you say, ‘how much will it cost’ vs. ‘this is what we have to spend’”. After receiving various quotes from contractors, we picked the one the fit best with our plans and budget.

Adjustments to plans

For the McKenzie Lake project, there was not a lot of structural change that needed to be done. Instead, we wanted to focus on redoing the kitchen and the bathrooms. We also hope to remove the arched doorways as they are an outdated style. Basically, we want to clean up the home and give it a fresh look. During our first walkthrough, we wanted to knock down a wall between the kitchen and the dining room, but after the contractors came in we discovered the wall had water pipes and air ducts inside. The cost to make that change was higher than our budget, so we needed to adjust our plan for the kitchen.

Create a demo list

To help save costs, it’s useful to start demoing before the contractors come in. It will do two things; save them work and save your money. We suggest making a list of what you can take down and get rid of yourself.

Now we are off to demoing! Follow our renovation process on our Instagram where you’ll get more pictures and videos to follow along with.